Data Analytics Identifies Unnecessary Procedures

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

One in three providers is guilty of ordering unnecessary tests such as lower back MRIs, according to data from a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.

Using data analytics technology and data from the Veteran’s Health Administration, researchers were able to identify an astounding number of tests that never needed to be ordered.

According to Health IT Analytics, 110,661 LS MRIs were ordered during 2012; yet a majority of the LS MRIs were ordered from a small number of providers and nearly a third of all LS MRIs overall were found to be inappropriately ordered.

“This high level of inappropriate ordering is particularly striking in a system largely free of financial and other incentives for ordering, suggesting that nonpecuniary factors play a role in these inappropriate ordering choices,” explained the study, published in the American Journal of Managed Care.

Just over 16,000 providers ordered all of the LS MRIs in 2012; however only 10 percent of those providers were responsible for ordering half of the total inappropriate MRIs. Meanwhile, 23 percent of those providers were responsible for ordering nearly three quarters of the total inappropriate MRIs.

“We found a high concentration of inappropriate ordering among few providers, indicating that provider-focused efforts to reduce inappropriate orders should be targeted rather than universal,” the research team notes.

“Our results indicate that interventions to reduce inappropriate ordering will be most appropriately directed at providers who order 18 or more scans per year, at providers and managers at the lowest-complexity facilities, and at providers in primary care/internal medicine clinics,” the researchers concluded. “Interventions aimed at providers who order 18 or more scans per year represent an opportunity to have a substantive impact on reducing the absolute number of inappropriate MRIs ordered.”